Hey guys,

I just bought a 2005 White Evolution with 22k miles. The car so far is in very good if not mint condition and I am loving my car. This is my first manual car and I want to take very good care of it.


So I have a question about maintenence:

How often do you change your transmission fluid, Gearbox fluid and your transfer case fluid? and Can you get this changed at any place?

I know people usually do it themselves but, I don't have a garage or a place to change these fluids plus I seriously would rather pay someone to do it for me. I don't know how much dealers are charging to change this fluid, but can i get it down at any oil change shop?

Thanks for your help.

-Tom

p.s.

Any additional advice to keep the car running good is would also be nice.

 

Mitsu suggest changing the trans, t-case, and the front & rear diff's every 30k. Some poeple will tell you to do it more often but you really don't need to unless you do a lot of racing. Also, I would suggest only using the OE fluids, there are plenty of horror stories on here from poeple that used other makes.

 

^ +1 dont go to any shop go someone that knows evo becasue if you put the wrong fluids in your F'ed!

 

Do it your self and save your sanity. Plus then you know it was done right

 

very few people (including Mitsubishi Master Technicians) know what fluids go in your transmission, t-case and rear diff.

It takes special fluids (in all 3), and even the Mitsu dealerships have screwed up on numerous occasions. Not as much lately as they did back in 03-04, but still.... The t-case is probably the most sensitive. Several posts here describe what the best fluids are. I would suggest reading those, deciding for yourself, buying the fluid on-line, and then taking the fluid to whoever is doing the fluid changes, and make sure they use what you supply. That's the only way to be sure if you don't want to do it yourself.

 

I had the dealer do it for me the first time (at 30K miles). They charged me $400. It took the tech all of 45 minutes. So I said to myself "Ef that!" The next time it needed to be done (58K miles) I did it myself. It took a couple of hours because I wanted to be extra careful. There are excellent write-ups on this forum and even the mechanically challenged can do it. I recommend at least trying it yourself. Don't have the dealer do it, though. They're way overpriced. Read the write-up. It's a little messy, but you'll save a bundle and walk away with some pride.

Oh, and I recommend using Diaqueen for the rear diff and transfer case. You can buy a large can for about $50 at the dealer. For the transmission, there are other possibilities. I used Royal Purple, myself.

 

I always use, OEM fluids. I get my oil changed every 3k-3.5k miles. Ive owned the car 5 months and changed the tranny fluid twice now, and the rear differential once.

 

The owners manual says 30k for regular use, 15k for severe use.

$400 from the dealer?!?!?!!!! It took me two hours tops with lots of goofing off to change all three fluids. For the rear, you don't even need to jack the car up, but you do need a pump to get the fluid in there. For the tranny and TC, you need to get the front up on jackstands, and you can fill it using a funnel and hose from the engine bay.

www.evomoto.com has a good writeup.

 

Here... I found this VERY helpful... STEP BY STEP instructions and what to use.... AND when to change... hope it works, let me know....

This is the TC:
http://evomoto.com/tech_info.php?tPa...50f27cc8202a06



This is for the Transmission:
http://evomoto.com/tech_info.php?tPa...50f27cc8202a06

__________________________________________________ ____________

Personally, never use anything but the OEM for the TC and the rear diff...

Use either AMSoil or Mobil 1 Extended Performance... change every 3k-5k (no matter what)

Use RedLine for the Transmission... MT-90 is the OEM replacement, a little better than OEM, but they do have heavier shock stuff depending on what you do with your car... daily drive, use MT-90...

 

i would also suggest doing it yourself... my little sister could do this stuff and she is 12 with these instructions... Find one of your buddies with a garage... Or, use this as an excuse to clean out your own, lol... GOOD LUCK!!!

 

OH, i forgot the last part of your post, sorry...

You can NEVER change your fluids TOO OFTEN.... NEVER... the more often you change them, the better... BUT it gets VERY expensive... never go over 3k with the oil is what i think everyone on here agrees with, some can last longer though.

Change the TC & rear diff in the same day, they both use Diaqueen OEM fluid, you can pick it up at the dealer, its like $100 for 6 quarts, it will last you a LONG time... change those every 15k, so like once a year... more often if you drive a lot or hard all the time...

Change the tranny fluid about once a year too. If you find yourself grinding gears a lot though, change it more often, hopefully you dont grind too many times... Or if you are tracking a lot, change it more often...

remember, you can NEVER change them too often... its just expensive...

 

lol I did everything every 5k miles. LOF, Tranny, TC, etc... All the fluids that could easily be changed, I did.

 

good find drift

 

how do I know if I am grinding? It is really loud. Do I feel it through the clutch pedal? Shift knob?

I don't think I have grinded my gears yet and I have just started driving manual. Nothing so far when I am shifting has made me say "oh S***" *knock on wood*

I do feel a couple notches in my shift knob when I am shifting...i dunno if that helps.

 

well grinding sounds like grinding, you will feel it through the shift linakges and the knob, notches are usually resisitance from the detents for some transmissions and synchros doing their job. Notches really arent that big of a deal, but notches from worn down synchros will eventually turn into grinding.